Disneyland Vacation: Day 2

What a wonderful, exhausting day it has been! The kids slept amazingly all night long and didn't even wake up much earlier than normal.. We all got right up and got ready, and then headed upstairs to the hotel dining area for breakfast. After that we headed over to Disneyland!

We're off! (Her expression cracks me up.)

We were all so excited when we got there and the very first thing Kaylie wanted to do was go in the castle. Thus bringing us to our first mistake of the day. The castle is great and really cool, and apparently there's an inside to it that walks you through the story of Sleeping Beauty. So we thought, hey that will be fun. Not so much. It was really, really dark (literally and figuratively) and didn't really focus on any of the lighter parts of the story. So Kaylie was pretty thoroughly freaked out and ready to be done by the time we got out of there. We had been planning on taking her on Peter Pan for her first ride because we wanted to do something fun and not scary first so that she wouldn't be hesitant to go on other rides for the rest of the day. But the line was like thirty minutes long and we didn't really want her first experience there to be waiting around either. I look over and, hey, Pinocchio doesn't have a line at all. Let's go there! And here was our second mistake. Pinocchio's ride is just as scary, if not more so, than the castle. Kaylie was terrified the whole time and was screaming and crying. Drew, of course, just sat there and took it all in, not the least bit concerned since his imagination doesn't get the best of him yet like his big sister's does. We started becoming aware that even some of the rides that we don't think are scary really are for her, including some of the kiddie rides. Her imagination has sky rocketed lately, which does lend itself to her getting scared more often. There's definitely been a bit of a learning curve today.

We're here! 

After this it was a challenge to convince Kaylie to go on any rides that she could not see the entirety of from the line. We decided it was probably a good idea to try something really easy and fun, so we went on the KC Junior train and then Dumbo. She *loved* both. And she picked the right parent to go with her on Dumbo. I am terrified of heights, so I was perfectly content to just stay at the lowest level on there. (On a side note, we used to tease my grandma all the time for saying that Dumbo was ten stories high. Today I realized what she meant.) While Kaylie and I went on Dumbo, Phil took Drew on King Arthur's carousel. Drew was very worried about it while he waited for it to start, but then he really enjoyed it once it started and almost fell asleep on it.

  Waiting in line for Dumbo. 

Dumbo!!!

I decided it would be fun to get both of the kids Mickey ears to wear while we are here. They both really should be wearing hats, so why not make it fun. The only problem is that the hats with the ears are just too big for both of their heads, so I got them both little baseball hats with ears; a Minnie one for Kaylie and a Mickey one for Drew. Drew's hat was his prized possession today. He absolutely loved it. This is notable because he hates hats and normally can't get them off of his head fast enough. Not so with this one. He wore it almost all day and if I took it off for any reason he got really mad. Haha. The only bad thing about the hat shop was when I was trying some of the Minnie ears on Kaylie and accidently snapped her right across the eyes with the rubber band. I felt *horrible*, but after a few minutes she was fine and back to her normal self.

Drew with his beloved hat.

Then it was time for the teacups! Phil can't go on the teacups ever since he got horribly sick from them years ago, so I took Kaylie. We didn't do any additional spinning other than what the ride does on it's own and she really enjoyed that. She was kind of nervous about Alice and Wonderland, but I attribute some of that to the Pinocchio fiasco, so we'll try it again another time this week. I think her favorite ride today was Small World. Both kids were mesmerized the whole time, singing and pointing and staring at everything. It was a really nice experience for Phil and I, too, because honestly by this point we were all getting a little grumpy from the morning being rougher than expected. So it was great to finally do something that we all really loved.

Kaylie and Daddy

She looks scared, but she really was enjoying herself. She just stayed plastered next to me the whole time. :)

After Small World we came back to the hotel for lunch and naps. We decided that for the rest of the week we'll be packing our lunch and bringing it to the park with us so that we can have a little bit more time in the morning. After lunch all four of us enjoyed a nice long nap and woke up feeling refreshed, cheerful, and ready to get back to our day.

He was definitely ready for his nap. Sweet little boy.

As soon as we walked back into Disneyland, Mickey came out on Main Street. So we didn't have to wait but five minutes for the kids to see him and take a picture with him. Kaylie was so excited and he was super sweet with her, gesturing about how he loved her Minnie Mouse hat and shirt. Cruella DeVil was there, too, but Kaylie wanted nothing to do with her. The first ride we did when we got back to the park was the Jungle Cruise. The tour guides on those always crack me up with their cheesy, obviously scripted humor. Drew was standing up looking out the side completely bravely for the cruise, until the elephants showed up and then he glued himself to Phil. Those things must have looked enormous to him. We left the Jungle Cruise and headed over to Toon Town. Phil and I were talking about the fact that neither of us have ever really been crazy about Toon Town because they added it onto the park when we were both far older than it's targeted demographic. But now that we have small kids with us, it seems like it will become one of our favorite places.

Mickey Mouse! We were so glad there wasn't a huge wait. We got there just in time!

We spent quite of bit of time in Mickey's house, and a little bit of time in Minnie's. I think Mickey's house was probably Drew's favorite part of the day. It's just perfect for him because he pretty much just walked around and touched everything in sight. There was nothing that was off limits and nothing that was too big for him. Phil went off with Kaylie while she explored and I followed Drew around. I think we spent about ten minutes in the living room where he went back and forth between climbing up and down the fireplace hearth to walking around the little TV. After Mickey and Minnie's houses, we got the chance to see Pluto. Kaylie was so sweet with him and got to get a picture. We went from there to Donald Duck's boat, which was kind of lame and tiny, and then to Goofy's Garden. It was pretty much a little playground with a slide and things to climb on. The kids had a blast there, too. It's always amazing to me how easy they are to please.

Going up and down the fireplace hearth.

I love the way she's looking up at him.

Me and my main squeeze. 

Going down the slide at Goofy's Garden.

After Goofy's Garden we went to get some dinner in Fantasyland. It never ceases to amaze me how expensive food is there. Which is precisely why the only time we're eating at the park this week is dinner. They have kids meals there for only $4, so we got each of the kids one and it was the tiniest, most pitiful thing I've ever seen. Macaroni and cheese, applesauce, and milk. The pitiful part was that there was literally only a half a cup of macaroni and cheese in each meal. We thought, well great. They'll both still be hungry afterwards and we'll have to get them something else. Disney proved us wrong. Kaylie was just fine with what she had and Drew didn't even finish all of his. Who knew? Once again Kaylie dumped her milk all over the floor, at least having the courtesy to miss my foot this time. (On a side note, we think her arms are growing and she's not really aware of how long they are, because she's been knocking her drinks over at dinner with her elbows every night for the past week or so. Cups with lids only until she stops doing that.)

Right across the street from the restaurant is the carousel. And in front of that is the marvelous sword in the stone! "Sword in the Stone" is ranked up there as one of Kaylie's favorite and most watched movies, so we had to get her to try to pull the sword out. Of course she couldn't, but she was just determined that it would work, so we had to try several times. Once she realized that she couldn't pull the sword out, and that Mommy couldn't either, she asked to go on the carousel, which of course they both enjoyed.

Trying to pull the sword from the stone. Alas, she is not the future king of England. :)

Drew was just not happy while we were waiting for the carousel to start. This picture makes me laugh. 

Phil was really looking forward to taking Kaylie on Autopia, and since Drew doesn't meet the height requirement he and I walked around and then waited to watch Phil and Kaylie drive by so we could wave. We stood by the monorail and played peekaboo and watched cars and the monorail drive by. The stupid horn they honked gave Drew and I both a heart attack every time it went off. It was so loud! Phil said Kaylie really enjoyed driving, but wasn't very good and steering so she relinquished the job to him.

She's got her license! Waiting to ride Autopia.

The last thing we did in the park was the Finding Nemo submarine ride. When you get on the submarine you sit in seats that are directly in front of your own window. We've not been on the submarine's since they changed it and I have to say it was really cute. Both kids were completely mesmerized the whole time. Drew sat with his nose about an inch from the window the entire ride. There was a lot to see and it was super cute. Of course they can't have a ride without adding a little scary (the angler fish showed up at one point), but that was my only complaint.

By this time it was almost eight, so we decided to head back to the hotel for baths (very, very necessary) and bedtime. Right before we left we realized that Drew was missing a shoe, so I walked all the way back to Tomorrowland to look for it, but to no avail. Oh well. He was almost grown out of those anyway. We made a quick stop at the gigantic store in Downtown Disney to let the kids look around. We decided to make Kaylie wait to get her souvenir until our last day so that she can enjoy it a little more, but we wanted her to be able to see what was there so that she could better decide what she wants. Tonight it was a stuffed Pluto. We'll see if that's what she lands on by the end. When Phil told her it was time to put the Pluto back, she was disappointed, but he explained to her that if she really loved it, she would still love it just as much when it was time to get it.

Bath time was quick and we got them both straight down to bed. Drew was so tired that he stayed exactly in the position Phil laid him down in and feel sound asleep just like that. 

All tuckered out from the day. Haha.

Singing and praying together before bed. 

We had such a wonderful day today. It started out a little rough, but we're learning about how to do Disneyland with small kids and we're loving every minute of it. We are so excited to head back tomorrow and show them all kinds of new things. What a blessed family we are to be able to do something so special and fun with our kids. Until tomorrow!